Junior analysts are completely cooked. I fully skipped this part of my career, but understand that it has been a necessary part of people's work path so far. There's absolutely no need to hire young people for bullshit tasks like drafting up documents and doing random research/work when you can have easier communication and results for a fraction of the cost with AI tools. I'm ever more convinced that AI has widened, and will continue to widen, the gap between the high-end professionals and the rest of the population. One will get smarter, the other dumber. What matters most now is creativity, gauging risk, strategic thinking and interpersonal relations. A good way for people to get an edge used to be to out-work their peers, that's no longer useful. Work smarter, not harder is in full effect. I'm incredibly happy to not be in a situation where I need to start a career path in finance and looking for a junior analyst job. Now more than ever, the world is for the self-taught